Mechquest: Before A Knight
by Ehren Hatten
Summary: Elke Knight is a new recruit to GEARS university, with an upperclassman who happens to be the Kingadent's son, during a very dangerous time in their history. The Shadowscythe want to destroy everyone and she is now thrust into this war head on.


_**A/N: so when I realized that Mechquest was the prequel to Dragonfable, I immediately went into action inside my brain as to how to link it all together with my character Elke. Also, given that it IS a new game and that there isn't much plot developed, I'm making up a few things. Sorry.**_

_**And yeah, took the Kingadent's speech because OMG that's too crazy to forget.**_

_**Mechquest:**_

_**Before A Knight**_

_**Chapter One**_

Elke Knight poked at the readout screen in front of her. She wasn't really supposed to be doing this, since she was supposed to actually be practicing with her GEARS mech that the university had given her and every other student aboard the ship. It was a pretty decent mech, given the low quality of it, but she would survive with it. The accents on it were red and she had the silver bits blotted out with black so that it wouldn't hurt her eyes as much when things reflected off of it.

She had come from a small colony on one of the nearby worlds and taken the opportunity to join the university in order to play with the new technology that they had started working with. She loved working with the computers and the mechanical robots that they were given to pilot.

A tall woman of some mass, she was often made fun of for how big she was. However, she proved that it was not all fat that made up her mass, but bone and muscle and a determination to put her fist through a wall if she had to. Her breasts were most often commented upon for they were indeed large compared to the other women around her, her hips wider to match her broad shoulders. Her hair was an odd shade of reddish-blonde, darkened some and pulled up in a hodge-podge of different styles all at once; the main part of her hair pulled back into a bun, one side had a large portion of hair in a single braid and the other side had little braids and some hair free.

She stood away from her console and looked around the shuttle to Soluna city. When they would reach Soluna she wasn't certain. When they did, she and her other ship mates would be inducted into GEARS university for training up.

She walked past the training arcade and into the hangar where all the student mechs were being kept for the journey to Soluna. She found the strange pink haired technician working on one of the mechs that had pink coloration on it. "Tek! Oi! Get down here, I need to ask you some things about the mech that I had you deal with," said Elke, calling up to the young woman who was perched precariously upon the pink mech's shoulder.

"What d'you need?" called Tek from her perch. She swung around and sat upon the shoulder with a little more care and eyed Elke from there like some form of bird.

"I need to ask about the blackened bits. Are you certain no one will mind that it isn't strictly regulation? My eyes are sensitive and the blackened bits make it easier to see if I'm on a planet surface!"

Tek rolled her eyes and nodded. "Yes, yes! They should let it pass! I've been customizing you lot's mechs since I was a kid working with my dad!"

Elke smiled faintly and nodded, waving up at Tek. "I see, thank you Tek! I'll see you on Soluna!"

"Better make that date! I don't pull my anime collection out for just anyone you know!!" called Tek as she laughed. Elke giggled slightly and walked out of the hangar, going back to the main part of the shuttle.

The community center portion of the ship held a coffee bar as well as a food court of sorts for the students and officers and the captain to eat from on the long trip around the planets to pick up the new university students. On one wall there was a large screen where everyone could watch various television shows. This time, however, it wasn't on any T.V. show, but flickering to life on the rather ugly and sneering face of Dinkelheim Slugwrath, the citizens of Lore's Kingadent. He smiled benignly at the screen for a moment before it was replaced with that same slimy sneer that Elke hated looking at when he did his speeches.

"Greetings Citizens," he said, "it is I, your beloved and unanimously voted Kingadent, Dinkelheim Slugwrath." He paused for a moment, something he was famous for. It was as though he wasn't quite certain what he should say next or that he had read somewhere that pauses made for a proper moving speech, but he seemed to have got it wrong and instead paused where he didn't need to and made them long uncomfortable pauses instead. "As you know, scientists have recently discovered and unidentified flying object heading straight for our planet. The Alien UFO responded to the diplomatic offering of towels embroidered with 'Slugwrath Rules' with the following message…"

The screen switched to that of a blank screen with strange noises coming across the speakers. Finally, some strange speaking started up that was filtered and English began after the speaker began speaking. "Filthy humans…. We will destroy your race and eradicate it from… the universe…" There was a great deal of static in between the times the English would grace the speakers. The voice itself was robotic almost from the translator working for whatever the creature was.

The smug face of Kingadent Slugwrath appeared back on the screen with a small smile through his thick graying goatee, matching the graying black hair that was slicked back and held down by the crown he wore. "Apparently, they don't recognize the obvious value of a good towel after a nice hot shower!" Once more he paused and there seemed to be laughter from the press corps and the students around Elke. She wasn't the least bit amused. This was serious and that was a really lame joke. "So, I have declared war on these beings that threaten us! Our military is the finest in the galaxy and our mecha power force is the grandest around! We will defeat these mongrels that threaten to destroy us! This isn't just a war against some aliens trying to invade us! This is a war against Alienism!"

The screen went black after that and one of the men next to her looked as though he was reeling from the information that he had just been force fed. Elke wasn't feeling too pleasant either, as the very idea that the only reason their kingadent would go to war was because they seemed to reject his souvenir towels. "Like, whoa," said the guy next to her. Immediately, all her flags went up at the familiar surfer pattern of speech. "Like.. he's so totally charismatic and righteous. Like.. whoa!"

Elke rolled her eyes and made a disgusted sound before the ship made a rather strange sound and everything on the deck went sliding forward. "What the hell? WHOA!" Elke grabbed onto a table leg as the ship almost went into a ninty degree angle downward. That which wasn't nailed down was falling to the front of the ship. "What the hell is going on here?!"

"We're landing!" cried one of the girls nearby.

Elke pulled herself up onto the table leg and sighed in exasperation. Who the hell was driving this ship that seemed to prefer entering the atmosphere of Lore as a vertical line? Things began to smooth out and go back to the right angle it was supposed to be at as she looked out the port window. Outside she saw the sparks of heat coming off the shielding of the ship. They were entering the atmosphere and would be making their way around the world downward until they reached Soluna city. Only one problem lay ahead…

Elke watched as the city streaked past the window and they continued onward. "Where the hell are we headed?! Who's driving this boat?!"  
The speakers came to life with their captain, the famous fighter pilot Sys-Zero, talking to them. "We're going to make another go at Soluna, the helmsman is suffering from anxiety so this could get a bit bumpy."

"BUMPY LEFT FIVE MINUTES AGO!" Elke screamed at the speaker.

When all seemed to start smoothing out into what would be a good landing, immediately things turned on their heads and the ship took a dive bomb right into the woods outside of Soluna. Elke screamed as did several other students as they watched the impeding doom of the forest invading their windows. Then, all went black and noisy before the noise faded away.

* * *

"Knight, Elke? Are you awake yet?"

Elke groaned and rubbed her head. She hurt all over, but her head felt the worst. It felt as though it was going to split in two. "Oh good, she's awake now! It seems the work we did on her paid off!"

Elke sat up slowly and rubbed her head still. She looked to the nurses looking at her expectantly in their pink nurse uniforms. "Ah, yeah, I feel fine except a headache," she said.

The nurses smiled at her and one went off. The one that looked to be the head nurse moved toward her and smiled brightly. "It seems the work we did on you paid off, then! You and all the other students were injured quite badly in the crash!"

Elke nodded. "Thanks. Can I get some headache pills or something?" That headache was getting worse from them talking to her.

The nurse that ran off came back with some pills and a glass of water, handing it to Elke. Elke took the pill that was given to her and got to her feet. She was wearing a paper gown. "Where are my clothes and my regulation shirt?"

Another nurse came up and smiled brightly at her. "Here you go, Miss Knight." Then, the nurse handed Elke her clothes and directed her to a bathroom where she could change. "Just throw away the gown we gave you, all right?"

Elke nodded, feeling very uncomfortable in the paper gown and went quickly into the bathroom and locked the door behind her. She dressed quickly and put her hair back up the way she had had it before, the strange collection of hair styles slammed together all on one head of hair, before she walked out again, finding other students coming out of restrooms all dressed up as if they had never been in a wreck in the first place.

She checked out and made her way down the main sidewalk where people gathered and talked to each other, some challenging each other to duels and others generally trying to make their way to the screen not too far off not far away from a large building with letters being put on spelling "Tek—"

She soon realized that the grand majority of the people there were students of GEARS Institute, each wearing their regulation shirt with the GEARS logo on it. She saw one pack of students and wandered over to them. In the center was a man with longish black hair that seemed to want to go into every direction at once, but what made it odd was that it was in a stylish fashion. His eyes were green and his face was handsome, though he seemed to constantly hold a sneer or a grimace on his face. There was something very familiar about his face, though indeed, she had not seen as many handsome men around that looked similar to this man who caught her attention.

"My dad's the Kingadent, so that would almost make me next in line," said the man, laughing.

Now she understood why he seemed somewhat familiar, though admittedly, this man was markedly more handsome than his slimy snake of a father was. This was apparently Slugwrath's son and he was wearing a GEARS Institute regulation shirt as well! All the shirts were sheer so that they would go with whatever you wore, but had odd panels on the front and back that protected you from bullets or shrapnel from your mech. His was a dark color, possibly black, covering over a black shirt with a loose neck and high collar that was held down around his neck by a gold ring. This contrasted greatly from Elke indeed, as if they were in some form of melodrama and she was being obviously shown out to be the good guy and he was being obviously shown out to be the mischievous villain. While he wore all dark colors, she had a white regulation shirt that was trimmed in gold borders she had added herself, her clothes consisting of a white shirt underneath a blue one that was also trimmed in gold. If he was the villain, indeed she would have been pointed out to be the knight.

The man looked over to her and looked her up and down. For a moment, it felt as thought there was only him and her looking at one another; as if fate had singled them both out for some mysterious play. If this man was anything like his father, she knew exactly what sort of fate she was going to be involved in and it wasn't a pleasant thought at all!

He snorted and looked away to his compatriots. "Looks as though the institute's standards have gone down," he said in a bored sort of tone before looking back at her pointedly, "They're letting in pigs with crappy hair styles."

Oh yes, this was definitely going to be THAT sort of play.

"Stuff it, brat," Elke countered. A couple of girls nearby chuckled as they walked by. Elke watched as the man's fellows eyed her in a very bored fashion and seemed to collectively sneer at her. "At least I didn't get here on daddy's reputation as a smooth talker."

The man jumped down from the top of the walkway wall and walked over to Elke. He was markedly taller than her, glaring down at her coldly through his dark lashes. She watched him and crossed her arms in front of her chest, taking his visual challenge. "Something the matter? Don't like the truth being told, rich boy?"

He laughed a cold laugh and moved away from her, snorting in derision. "The fat bitch thinks she has a chance! I'm a year ahead of you, sweetheart, and you've got nothing against me in a mech or with a laser sword!" Then, he turned to his pals and motioned to them. "Let's get going and watch the initiates get their asses kicked by the robots in the testing ring!" The men and women both cheered and followed after the man, Slugwrath Junior, as Elke was beginning to think of him as, to the taxi waiting to take students to the school a half mile away.

She moved toward the screen that she had been originally headed for and found the crowd had thinned out considerably. There, she saw Dinkelheim Slugwrath talking once more, though she could not hear him over the noises around the area. When enough people had left, she moved up next to it and checked the news. There was the same message about the Shadowscythe aliens attacking and every GEARS student needing to prepare for battle. There were job listings available as well. She saw the nurse listing and remembered the super happy nurses in the hospital ward; shuddering at the thought. She saw a pizza job listing and cringed. She had a personal rule against working in any sort of place where food was prepared. If she saw or even knew how it was prepared in a place that was supposed to be a fast food place, she would never be able to eat the food ever again, simply because the food preparation was too stupid or disgusting to comprehend. A regular restraint might not be so terrible since the food was prepared by experienced chefs who were knowledgeable in food preparation that the idea of smelling and seeing the food in front of her every day made it not so terrible to her. But, the customers would cause her to likely be tossed out on her ass.

She sighed and walked to the transport shuttle to be taken to the university. There was a small line of people who were also waiting their turns. When they had cleared out, all that was left was her. When it was her time, she got into the shuttle and watched as it made its way to the university and dropped her off.


End file.
